How China’s new model for hi-tech firms can help it become a global leader in artificial intelligence and driverless cars

Barely a decade after the global financial crisis, China’s economy is shedding its “factory of the world” past and embracing an innovative future built on a business ecosystem supported by rising companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi and more than 1,000 new venture investments by the country’s nouveaux riches. Its ecosystem has put China on pace to become a global leader in electric and driverless cars within 10 years. It is also on track to become a leading Artificial Intelligence developer. The business ecosystems of Chinese companies differ sharply from those of US juggernauts such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, according to Greeven, whose book came out in September. In the US, one company usually creates a platform which outside companies either plug into or use. In China, an outside company does not plug in, but becomes part of the business as one of hundreds of players in an ecosystem, Greeven argues.